Cash boost to help people with dementia

Calderdale Council has approved the contribution towards the proposed project which would provide housing for 46 adults with dementia and learning disabilities.

It would also offer a range of personalised care services to help them continue to live independently.

Funding for the scheme has been awarded by the Department of Health and a grant application will now be submitted to the Homes and Communities Agency for the rest of the cost.

An estimated 2,300 people with dementia live in Calderdale and there is likely to be a potential 75 per cent increase in that figure by 2030.

Calderdale Council’s cabinet member for economy and environment, Coun Barry Collins, said: “We want to double the number of extra care places in Calderdale by 2015 and this proposed scheme will help us to reach this target.

“We have identified a potential site in Brighouse and we are now working hard to put the funding in place to make this a reality.”

Elsewhere in West Yorkshire, about £700,000 is being spent on four wards in Airedale Hospital to help meet the needs of patients who have dementia.

Staff and patients moved on to ward four, which has had the most substantial refurbishment to make it ‘dementia friendly’, this month.

The ward has been redecorated using co-ordinated bright colours to help patients easily find their way back to their beds and prevent disorientation. It includes stained glass windows which help to create a calming atmosphere and new curtains.

A ‘reflections’ room has been created where patients and families can spend time and which will be equipped with comfortable furnishings and pictures from the 1950s displayed on loop on a monitor to trigger memories.